Originally Posted by craneSpotter (Post 8774649)

No I don't think so. They built up that brand over a long time - it's a good brand. Dangerous to change it now. However Encore is less 'regional', or maybe they introduce a new regional brand for the East - but mainline remains WestJet.

Originally Posted by nname (Post 8773091)

Well, CX will cancel their YVR-JFK flight by the end of March, and there is no additional capacity for the summer months so far for any of the New York route. Even if the CX flight have a load factor of ~45%, those 150 or so people would need to go somewhere...?

The winter months will be handle by DL for converting their YVR-JFK route to year-round.

Originally Posted by J81 (Post 8774846)

I dont think you can book a CX ticket between YVR and JFK. Isnt that cabotage?

Originally Posted by Dominion301 (Post 8774111)

WS CEO Sims says newly privatized WS will at last shift their focus to YOW, YUL and YYZ: https://business.financialpost.com/t...#comments-area

Bring on Onex! Maybe WS at YOW and YUL will finally start to outgrow WS at YLW.

Originally Posted by craneSpotter (Post 8774146)

Surprise surprise. The major decisions @ WS will now be made in Toronto by the parent. I imagine over time some WS executives may move east.

Originally Posted by Jaws (Post 8774311)

I think Westjet gets a name change at some point.

Originally Posted by Cage (Post 8775267)

The journo was from Toronto and Ed Sims all ready knew that, so he told the reporter exactly what she and her readers wanted to hear.

One thing new CEOs and VP Network Planning people learn from communications staff; always have a positive, but noncommittal answer for local journos.

If you ask CX if they would like to serve YYC, the answer will always be "At the moment, we don't have the right fleet and would need an expanded bilateral between our country and yours. In the future once our new fleet of 789/778/350 etc arrive and we get additional route rights, we can look at serving your city". 3 years later the same executive gives the same answer to a new journo. Wash, rinse, repeat.

The whole article has an Ontario and Quebec centric approach and would love to have heard the questions. One of the things I like about hearing from live Q&A media availability is that you get full context about the journos angle.

As for actually expanding in YOW, YYZ, and YUL; first step will be getting back to mainline on YYZ-YUL. Currently its 8 Q400s and 2 737s. Further down the line, lets see what gifts the Competition Tribunal will have for WS in order to approve AC-TS merger. WS will angle to get as many gates and routes from AC/TS as possible. Competition Tribunal might even impose some route restrictions on AC/TS.




Doubtful that Onex will take that much of an active role in WS. Also zero chance anything more than 1 VP level person moves out east. If there is an executive based in YYZ, it will be because that person doesn't want to move their family to YYC.



The name change question is brought up by reporters/journos who don't have a lot research into WestJet. The questioners need to have responses that speak to their local reader/viewer base. The name change angle is an attempt to get into the story something the writer can understand and write about intelligently.

Originally Posted by zahav (Post 8774481)

I wonder how the yields and loads will be on the YYC-BOS flight with both AC and WS doing dailies. Seems like a pissing contest more than anything, and a rather desperate one at that. Nothing like a good old fashioned see who blinks first contest lol, it will probably be both of them!

Originally Posted by zahav (Post 8775491)

I think it will be AC too. Such a weird move for them.

I find it so odd that YXU has/will have flights to YXX, YYC, YWG, YYZ, YOW, YUL, and YHZ but none to YVR. Seems so odd, I guess because WS wants everyone to go thru YYC and AC doesn't really care except for their short Jazz flights. Just funny that they have flights to all of those places and not the 2nd busiest airport in the country

Originally Posted by zahav (Post 8775491)

I think it will be AC too. Such a weird move for them.

I find it so odd that YXU has/will have flights to YXX, YYC, YWG, YYZ, YOW, YUL, and YHZ but none to YVR. Seems so odd, I guess because WS wants everyone to go thru YYC and AC doesn't really care except for their short Jazz flights. Just funny that they have flights to all of those places and not the 2nd busiest airport in the country

Originally Posted by YYCguys (Post 8774702)

Westjet Link has been successful for them so far, out west, so maybe they will try to do something similar out east?

Originally Posted by craneSpotter (Post 8774649)

No I don't think so. They built up that brand over a long time - it's a good brand. Dangerous to change it now. However Encore is less 'regional', or maybe they introduce a new regional brand for the East - but mainline remains WestJet.

Originally Posted by zahav (Post 8775491)

I think it will be AC too. Such a weird move for them.

I find it so odd that YXU has/will have flights to YXX, YYC, YWG, YYZ, YOW, YUL, and YHZ but none to YVR. Seems so odd, I guess because WS wants everyone to go thru YYC and AC doesn't really care except for their short Jazz flights. Just funny that they have flights to all of those places and not the 2nd busiest airport in the country

Originally Posted by samuelx88 (Post 8775733)

YQB also doesn't have flights to YVR even if Québec city is the 7th largest city in Canada. It also doesn't have flights to YHZ, YEG and only has 4x weekly YYC during 2 months in the summer.

I think that WS should add YQB-YHZ in the summer to offer one stop flights to Europe, which would be much more quickly than going back west to Toronto or Montreal.

Also YQB-YVR in the summer to make easier for Asian visitors to connect to Quebec

And when will Swoop fly to the province of Quebec? They talked about Trois-Rivières but nothing has evolved so far

Originally Posted by craneSpotter (Post 8775690)

I think Encore should work fine out east.

The big question is: Does Onex guide WestJet back to being NA focused carrier (original business plan based on Southwest - one aircraft type - keep it simple), clipping its international (trans ocean) expansion aspirations.

Onex wants to reclaim WS's market Cap, which has been significantly diminished since WS started adding expensive 787s and flying across the Atlantic (and talking Asia in the future).

Or... do they take on the major carriers head on and fund/finance rapid international expansion to Europe and Asia...a quick way to bleed money...?

Originally Posted by Dominion301 (Post 8775148)

That’s called 5th freedom traffic rights, not cabotage and that route is ending soon. 5th freedoms are a holdover from yesteryear when nonstops were impossible between two distant points and allowed an airline to pickup traffic along the way in order to make a route viable. Cabotage is domestic flying by a foreign airline. New Zealand and Australia have reciprocal cabotage rights. Most of Europe allows for cabotage among EU carriers.

EK actually just launched a new 5th freedom DXB-BCN-MEX.